title: Frontal Assessment Battery is a marker of dorsolateral and medial frontal functions: A SPECT study in frontotemporal dementia.
abstract: The objective of this study is to identify the cerebral regions that are assessed by the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Using SPM voxel-based analysis, we looked for correlations between FAB performance and brain SPECT perfusion in 47 patients with the frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia (fv-FTD) recruited by the French FTD research network, a multicentre initiative of French University hospitals with expertise in the field of dementia. A significant correlation was found between FAB performance and perfusion in the medial and dorsolateral frontal cortex bilaterally, independently of age, gender and MMSE. No correlations were observed with orbital frontal or parietal perfusion, in spite of the presence of hypoperfusion in these areas, or with perfusion of any other cortical or subcortical region. These findings confirm that the FAB is an adequate tool for assessing functions related to the dorsolateral and medial frontal cortex, and is thus useful for the evaluation of diseases associated with frontal dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Service Central de Biophysique et Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital de la Timone, APHM, Marseille, France. eric.guedj@univmed.fr
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guedj
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Allali
authors.forename: Celine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goetz
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Le Ber
authors.forename: Magali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Volteau
authors.forename: Lucette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lacomblez
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vera
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hitzel
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hannequin
authors.forename: Marielle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Decousus
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thomas-Antérion
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Magne
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vercelletto
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Mira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Didic
authors.forename: Jean-Albert
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lotterie
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puel
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brice
authors.forename: Marie-Odile
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Habert
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dubois
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003704:Dementia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon